Loading yard with wharves

ABSTRACT

A loading yard is provided with a mounting structure for removably mounting a wharf on the yard. Horizontal guide rails of different configurations are mounted on the front end of the yard. The wharf includes a number of mounting brackets having rollers positioned in different orientations. The rollers are slidable over the guide rails to mount the wharf in a suspended manner on the front end of the yard. The yard has a top edge which extends outwardly beyond the front end to prevent vehicles from being driven too close to the front end to avoid damage to the guide rails.

O United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,886,614 Rosengren 1 June 3, 1975 [54] LOADING YARD WITH WHARVES 3,665,537 5/1972 Turner 14/71 [76] Inventor: Knut Tage Lennart Rosengren,

Eriksfahsgatan 1 2 4 32 Primary Examiner-Nile C. Byers, Jr. Malmo, Sweden Attorney, Agent, or Firm-John J. Dennemeyer [22] Filed: Jan. 10, 1974 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No; 432,201

A loading yard is provided with a mounting structure I for removably mounting a wharf on the yard. Horizon- [52] U.S. Cl. 14/71 tal guide rails of different configurations are mounted [51] hit. Cl. B65g 11/00 on the front end of the yard The wharf includes a [58] Field of Search 14/71 number f mounting b a kets having rollers positioned in different orientations. The rollers are slid- Refqences C'ted able over the guide rails to mount the wharf in a sus- UNITED STATES PATENTS pended manner on the front end of the yard. The yard 2,585,695 2/1952 Snow 14/71 has a p edge which extends outwardly beyond the 2,817,102 12/1957 Harris 14/71 front end to prevent vehicles from being driven too 2,974,336 3/1961 Kelley 14/71 close to the front end to avoid damage to the guide 3,440,673 4/1969 Kelley V 14/71 r il 3,497,893 3/1970 Beckwith 14/71 3,533,118 10/1970 Rosengen 14/71 6 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures LOADING YARD WITH WHARVES The present invention relates to a loading yard provided with wharves wherein the front side of the loading yard has horizontally extending supporting and guiding'rails defining journals, and the wharf has rollers contacting the journals of the rails so that the wharf is suspended at the loading'yard and made movable to be displaced along the same.

According to the common practice in the case of loading yards havingwharves of the above-mentioned kind the wharves are used only when goods are to be transported to and from such vehicles in which the wagon-bridge is positioned at a differentheight compared to the-plane'of the loading yardrOn the contrary, vehicles having the wagon-bridge at thesame height as the plane of the loading yard are driven close to the front side of the loading yard and are being charged without the aid of wharves. Due to the provision of the supporting and running rails of the wharves on the front side of-the loading yard, deformations of the rails have often occurred, caused by ramminginto said side, resulting in requirement for time consuming straightening or mounting works. Also, deformation of the rails has not always been observed by the displacement of the wharves along the loading yard resulting in damage of the rollers of the wharves. I

The object of the present invention is to eliminate these drawbacks by the provision of a loading yard designed to permit protection of the rails so that ramming into these is prevented and also allow the rails to be protected from falling goods. The invention also permits the journals of the rails to be more easily kept free of ice and snow.

To accomplish this object, the invention is substantially characterized in that the loading yard has a longitudinal member, positioned above the rails, and defining a stop edge preventing the vehicles from being driven so close to the loading yard that the rails are being deformed.

The invention will be described in greater detail hereafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional side view illustrating the loading yard according to the invention and a wharf.

provided thereon, and

FIG. 2 shows a sectional side view of another embodiment of a loading yard according to the invention.

The Wharf 1 comprises a vertical frame 2, the upper ends of the side sections thereof being bent backwardly and defining arms 3, extending over a loading yard. Pivots 4 connect the arms 3 to the rear ends of two forwardly extending arms 5, which at the inner side of the front ends thereof are provided with a bar 6 onto which the plate 7 of the wharf 1 is placed. The plate 7 has reinforcing beams 8 on the underside thereof and two horizontal pins 9 are provided on the beams, the pins extending under each arm and Contacting their undersides. Furthermore, the plate 7 is connected to the frame 2 through a hydraulic device adapted to keep the same in different angular positions. The hydraulic device comprises a hydraulic cylinder 10 pivotally mounted on the frame 2 and a piston 11 pivotally mounted on one of the reinforcing beams 8. The hydraulic device is actuated by means of an operating device. designed in a manner known per se and thus not described in more detail. Further. the frame 2 has a shield 12 to protect the hydraulic device from being LII rammed into when the plate 7 is setin an idle position. In order to keep the wharf l suspended on the yard and to displaceably mount the same along the front side of the yard the frame'2 is provided with flanges I3, 14, I5 for a number of rollers running on two stationary rails l6, 17. These are positionedhorizontally along the front side of the yard, the upper rail 16 being designed in such a manner that it defines a horizontal journal for rollers 18 and a vertical journal for rollers 19. Preferably, the rail 16 comprises a U-profile 16a positioned with the legs directed downwardly so that the inner side of the outer leg forms the vertical journal and further comprises an L-profile 16b mounted on the U-profile,

. fining a vertical journal for rollers 20. This suspension permits thewharf l to besuspended in a steady manner on the yard and easilymovable along the same.

According to the invention, the loading yard is designed toprevent deformation of the rails 16, 17 when vehicles are driven close to the same for charging. and discharging goods. For this purpose the loading yard 21 has, according to the embodiment illustrated in FIG.v 1, transverse beams 22 extending forwardly over the rails 16', 17. A profile 23 -is provided on the front end of'the beams,'said profile extending long the whole length of the yard with the front side 23a thereof positioned in or in front of a vertical plane running through the outermost edge of the rail 16. This means that the front side 23a of the profile defines a stop edge preventing vehicles from being driven so close to the loading yard that the wagon-bridge or other part thereof abuts the rails 16, I7 and deforms the same.

In the yard embodiment shown in FIG. 1, preferably the rails 16, 17 are provided on foot beams 24 extending downwardly from the transverse beams 22 and held in position with the aid of supporting beams 25 mounted on posts 26 for the transverse beams 22. F urther, the yard has a plate (not shown) supported by the transverse beams 22 and defining the driving plane of the yard.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the yard in which the loading yard 27 is cast concrete. According to this embodiment, a U-profile -28 is mounted on the front side of the yard so that the waist part 28a thereof lies in the same plane and the legs 28b thereof extend into the concrete. To hold the U-profile in a stable manner, the same is also provided with a number of stay wires 29 embedded in the mass of concrete. The rail 16 is mounted on the lower end of the waist part 28a of the U-profile and extends outside of the front side of the yard. The rail 17 is held to the yard partly by bolts 30 extending into the mass of concrete and partly by stay wires 31 running to the rail 16 and provided on the U-profile 16a.

According to the invention, a square profile 32 is provided on the web part 28a of the U-profile 28, said square profile running along the yard and having such a width that the front side 32a thereof is positioned in the same or in front of the vertical plane running through the outermost side of the rail 16. This means that the profile 32 constitutes a stop edge for vehicles being driven close to the loading yard 27 for the purpose of charging and discharging goods.

In the loading yards shown in the drawings, the part 22a and the profiles 23 and 32, respectively, define shields to prevent ramming into the rails l6, 17. In addition, the risk of ice and snow forming on the journals of the rails is reduced The illustrated embodiments of loading yards can be varied within the scope of the following claims. Furthermore, the invention is not being limited to the loading yard illustrated but the loading yard may be designed in different appropriate ways in order to span the distance between a vehicle and the plane of the loading yard.

What is claimed is:

l. A loading yard provided with wharves wherein the front side of the loading yard has supporting and guiding rails extending horizontally along said front side to define journals and said wharf has rollers contacting said journals so that said wharf is suspended for movement along said loading yard, the improvement consisting in that a longitudinal member is mounted at said front side of said loading yard above said rails substantially along the length thereof, said longitudinal member extending from said front side forwardly at least approximately up to a vertical plane passing through the outermost edge of said rails and constituting a stop edge to prevent vehicles driven to the loading yard from ramming and deforming said rails.

2. A loading yard according to claim 1, wherein said longitudinal part consists of a metal profile mounted at the front side of said loading yard.

3. A loading yard according to claim 2, wherein said metal profile is a square tube mounted on a U-profile whose web portion lies in the same plane as the front side of said loading yard, and whose legs extend into said loading yard, said legs and stay wires mounted on said U-protile being embedded in the concrete material of said yard.

4. A loading yard according to claim 3, wherein said supporting and guiding rails are fixed to said U-profile.

5. A loading yard according to claim 1, wherein said longitudinal member consists of an angular profile mounted on the front ends of transverse beams supported on upright posts in the wharf and that said rails are mounted on foot beams extending downwardly from said transverse beams and secured by support beams mounted on said posts.

6. A loading yard according to claim 5, wherein said supporting and guiding rails partly comprise a U-profile mounted on said loading yard with its legs directed downwardly so that the inner side of one leg thereof constitutes a vertical journal for horizontally disposed rollers and partly comprises an L-profile mounted on said U-profile, so that one leg constitutes a horizontal journal for vertically disposed rollers, and that the other leg of said L-profile extends in front of said U- profile and protects said U-profile. i 

1. A loading yard provided with wharves wherein the front side of the loading yard has supporting and guiding rails extending horizontally along said front side to define journals and said wharf has rollers contacting said journals so that said wharf is suspended for movement along said loading yard, the improvement consisting in that a longitudinal member is mounted at said front side of said loading yard above said rails substantially along the length thereof, said longitudinal member extending from said front side forwardly at least approximately up to a vertical plane passing through the outermost edge of said rails and constituting a stop edge to prevent vehicles driven to the loading yard from ramming and deforming said rails.
 1. A loading yard provided with wharves wherein the front side of the loading yard has supporting and guiding rails extending horizontally along said front side to define journals and said wharf has rollers contacting said journals so that said wharf is suspended for movement along said loading yard, the improvement consisting in that a longitudinal member is mounted at said front side of said loading yard above said rails substantially along the length thereof, said longitudinal member extending from said front side forwardly at least approximately up to a vertical plane passing through the outermost edge of said rails and constituting a stop edge to prevent vehicles driven to the loading yard from ramming and deforming said rails.
 2. A loading yard according to claim 1, wherein said longitudinal part consists of a metal profile mounted at the front side of said loading yard.
 3. A loading yard according to claim 2, wherein said metal profile is a square tube mounted on a U-profile whose web portion lies in the same plane as the front side of said loading yard, and whose legs extend into said loading yard, said legs and stay wires mounted on said U-profile being embedded in the concrete material of said yard.
 4. A loading yard according to claim 3, wherein said supporting and guiding rails are fixed to said U-profile.
 5. A loading yard according to claim 1, wherein said longitudinal member consists of an angular profile mounted on the front ends of transverse beams supported on upright posts in the wharf and that said rails are mounted on foot beams extending downwardly from said transverse beams and secured by support beams mounted on said posts. 